Explosive



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK M. BECKET, OF NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR. T ELECTRO METALLURGICAL COMPANY, OF NIAGARA FALLS, N EWYORK, A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

Patented July 22, 1919.

EXPLOSIVE.

1,310,466, Specification of Letters Patent.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK M. BECKET, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Niagara Falls, in the county of Niagara and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improve- V ments in Explosives, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an explosive containing as essential components a magnesium-silicon alloy, and an oxidizing agent. The oxidizing agent may be ammonium nitrate, or equivalents therefor, including nitrates of the alkali metals, barium and lead, chlorates or perchlorates of the alkali metals including ammonium, or the like, or mixtures thereof.

I have found that the magnesium-silicon alloys, especially such as contain a prepon- 2 derating proportion of magnesium, possess marked advantages for use in explosives as compared with other silicon-containing substances, such for example as the silicides of calcium and aluminun. 2 Typical magnesium-silicon allows for use in accordance with my invention may comprise Silicon l040% Magnesium 50-90% Iron up to 20% The presence of iron in the alloy is not essential, being more or less incidental to the employment, as a convenient material for making the desired alloy, of a high grade ferrosilicon. The alloy may be prepared for example by melting metallic magnesium together with ferrosilicon containmg 80- 85% of silicon,the melting being performed 40 under strictly non-oxidizing conditions, and preferably in an electric melting furnace. My invention is not limited, however, to the use of an alloy prepared in this manner.

The-proportion of oxidizing agent will of course depend upon the particular OX1- dizer used, as well as upon the specific composition of the magnesium-silicon alloy, it being essential only that the OXlCllZlllg agent should be in sufiicient proportion to supply Application filed June 7, 1918 Serial No. 238,755.

theoxygen requirements of the explosive reaction. For example I may employ a composition conta1n1ng:

Magnesium silicon alloy 520% Ammonium nitrate 80-95% Other ingredients may of course be introduced Without departing from my invention.

A primary advantage of the introduction of magnesium into explosive mixtures follows from the great amount of heat liberated in course of its combination with oxygen.

hlagnesium metal, however, particularly when very finely subdivided and when existing under the conditions obtaining in the explosive mixture, is somewhat lacking in stability and liable to slow oxidation. I have found on the other hand that the magnesium-silicon alloys are sufficiently stable to permit of such use. In this respect the magnesium-silicon alloys are sharply diiierentiated from such alloys as those of silicon with calcium. For example calcium silicide corresponding substantially to the formula CaSi is a fairly stable compound, but alloys of calcium and silicon containing a materially higher proportion of calcium than the above are comparatively unstable; consequently it has not proven practicable to increase the power of explosive mixtures containing calcium and silicon by increasso ing the calcium content of the alloy component. This does not apply however to the magnesium-silicon alloys, which possess a sufiicient degree of stability for the purposes indicated even when the magnesium content is decidedly higher than corresponds to the known silicide MgSi. Such compounds, irrespective of the presence or absence of iron or other components, may be defined as alloys in which the magnesium is in excess of the equimolecular proportion to the silicon.

A further advantage in the use of magnesium silicon alloys arises as follows The magnesium component of the alloy requires for its oxidation only about one-half of the oxygen required by the silicon component. It follows from this that the higher the relative proportion of magnesium in the alloy, the larger the permissible proportion of the alloy in the explosive mixture. It is therefore of great advantage in this connection that the magnesium-silicon alloys containing more than the equimolecular proportion of magnesium possess sufficient stability for use in explosive compositions.

Other advantages arising from the use of magnesium-silicon alloys in compositions of the kind above indicated follow from the relative lightness of these alloys and from the fact that the alloys are relatively brittle as compared with metallic magnesium, and are hence more easily pulverized to the requisite degree of fineness.

I claim 1. An explosive containing an oxidizing agent and a magnesium-silicon alloy 2. An explosive containing an oxidizing agent and a magnesium-silicon alloy, the magnesium in excess of the equimoleeular proportion to the silicon.

3. An explosive containing ammonium nitrate and a magnesium-silicon alloy.

4:. An explosive containing ammonium nitrate and a niagnesiunrsilicon alloy, the magnesium in excess of the equimolecular proportion to the silicon.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature.

FREDERICK M. BECKET.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

